GAFCON’s Final Statement

I’m about to be ordained presbyter in the Anglican Church (in about 90 minutes!)  It’s heartening to know I’m joining guys like these! 
Here’s the final statement of the GAFCON conference.
Some extracts:
We, the participants in the Global Anglican Future Conference, are a fellowship of confessing Anglicans for the benefit of the Church and the furtherance of [...]

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Looking Unto Jesus

Continuing on the Spurgeon quotes…  Here is today’s devotional from morning and evening and it’s a doozy!  It’s very reminiscent of a recent post on faith as looking outside ourselves to Christ.  But, as ever, Spurgeon says it best.  Drink it in!
“Looking unto Jesus.” –Hebrews 12:2
It is ever the Holy Spirit’s work to turn our [...]

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Calling

Lest anyone feel left out by my last post on ordination vows, this was today’s reading from Spurgeon’s Evening and Morning - we all have a holy calling!
 ”Let every man abide in the same calling wherein he was called.”—1 Corinthians 7:20.
Some persons have the foolish notion that the only way in which they can live for [...]

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Ordination Vows

Right now you can read live blogging of GAFCON and the EMA.  I give you live blogging of the Chichester diocese ordination retreat 2008!  
On Sunday I’m being ordained into the presbyterate. In the Anglican church we’re ordained first as Deacons and then, usually the following year, as Presbyters (or “Priests”).  I’ve been reflecting on my ordination [...]

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Five Smooth Stones – Faith

We’ve looked at Preaching and Grace, now we examine Faith through the lens of David and Goliath.
One of the most significant ‘light-bulb’ moments for me in the last couple of years has been to hear Alan Torrance and Mike Reeves say in different contexts basically the same thing.  Namely this: the reformers did not speak [...]

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Five Smooth Stones – Grace

I’ve begun looking at the story of David and Goliath as a lens through which to view five different doctrines:

Preaching
Grace
Faith
Election
Reward

In my last post we saw that preaching is not like a military briefing to troops on the front line.  It’s the war correspondent heralding the victory of Another to an otherwise hopeless people.  It’s about His victory [...]

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Revelation 21 sermon

Here’s the sermon from last week.  Where I say stuff like this…
Does your heart long for marriage?  Verse 2 and verse 9 tell us, we, the people of God, will enjoy the ultimate marriage.  We will share a relationship with Jesus that will make current experiences of marriage seem like the pale imitations that they are.  [...]

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Who will be the next Apprentice??

 
Could you be the next apprentice at my church – All Souls, Eastbourne?  We can offer training through the South Coast Ministerial Training Course and plenty of hands-on experience. Great church, great people  – join us!  (btw we’re looking to hire more than one).
Send me an email if you’re interested.
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Five Smooth Stones – Preaching

You’ve all wondered what David’s five smooth stones represent (1 Sam 17:40).  Now I bring you the definitive answer…
Not really, I just have some reflections on David and Goliath and there happen to be five of them… 

Preaching
Grace
Faith
Election
Reward

But first, let’s remind ourselves of the story. (Read it here)
So here we are (verses 1-3) the uncircumcised Philistines [...]

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Bible college

As far as I can tell, 1 Kings 18:4 is the best Scriptural warrant I can find for bible colleges (Americans read “Seminary”):
While Jezebel was killing off the LORD’s prophets, Obadiah had taken a hundred prophets and hidden them in two caves, fifty in each, and had supplied them with food and water.
Away from all [...]

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Some further leads on Christology

Further to the previous two posts (here and here), I just came across these two quotes from ‘Jesus in Trinitarian Perspective’ edited by Fred Sanders and Klaus Issler:
“Chalcedon already provides us with Christology in trinitarian perspective, and makes no sense without presupposing the Trinity.” (p15)
“At the center of the open space marked out by the boundaries [...]

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Christology and hermeneutics

It’s common to see a link between christology and our approach to the bible.  There are limits to this but also benefits.  Our approach to both Christ and the bible requires us to encounter something fully human which nonetheless is the Word of God.  Christology can therefore teach us a great deal about how the [...]

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